Nearly three in four respondents said the internet feels “less human” than it did 10 years ago.

Together, the findings paint a picture of a rapidly evolving digital landscape where brands are trying to adapt to a world beyond Google Search and traditional SEO, while also balancing the need to appear human-authored or risk losing their audience. As companies invest more in making their brand visible to AI search engines, consumers are placing greater value on transparency and attribution.

“People used to build websites for other people,” said Brian Alvey, CTO of WordPress VIP, in a statement shared alongside the new report. “Now you have to build websites for AI agents acting on behalf of those people. If your site’s content isn’t legible to AI, you are invisible to a growing share of how people search. You don’t exist. And if your content doesn’t feel human and trustworthy for the tiny percentage of people who actually click past the AI answer engines, they won’t come back a second time.”

The report is based on a survey of 2,000 respondents conducted in April, comprising 800 enterprise decision-makers and CMOs and 1,200 U.S. adults.